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I was pretty ignorant about PPF, ceramic, etc. I bought a black Model 3 and someone recommended I put ceramic on it so I did. Started finding rock chips in the paint so upgraded to Front PPF and rocker panels.

As soon as I got the car back I noticed a bunch of scratches near the passenger door handle. This is caused by passengers/kids simply touching the door when they open/close the door.

I really underestimated this situation. Apparently you cannot touch a Tesla without scratching it and on a black car it's very visible.

Next steps are just to PPF the whole thing and stop worrying about it. Anyone else go through this?
 
I was pretty ignorant about PPF, ceramic, etc. I bought a black Model 3 and someone recommended I put ceramic on it so I did. Started finding rock chips in the paint so upgraded to Front PPF and rocker panels.

As soon as I got the car back I noticed a bunch of scratches near the passenger door handle. This is caused by passengers/kids simply touching the door when they open/close the door.

I really underestimated this situation. Apparently you cannot touch a Tesla without scratching it and on a black car it's very visible.

Next steps are just to PPF the whole thing and stop worrying about it. Anyone else go through this?

FYI you can't touch the car... paint is too soft. :(

Take it up to Tesla and demand more durable painting. You have paid a lot $$$........ :/

Model 3 Scratches All Over And What Tesla's Tech Said
 
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I’ve owned a black car since 2008...they’re tough to keep swirl free...look at it the wrong way and you get micro swirls...including Bmw’s paint. As soon as I got my black p3d+ I had ppf applied to the full front, rockers, behind the wheels and then full ceramic over it. I’ve had my car over a year now, put on 15k miles and it’s still immaculate. But I’m an enthusiast detailer and am meticulous about how I care for my cars. Tesla’s black paint is a little softer....but all black paint will show scratches/swirls even if you just touch it with any dust on the car....my bmw was the same way.

I did add ppf myself to the lower portion of the front doors a couple months ago. If I were to do it again I would have ppf’d the whole car and have a lot less worry about swirls. The self healing of xpel ultimate plus is crazy...and the orange peel is non existent, compared to the ppf I had applied on my bmw 10yrs ago.

Side note on ceramic. This is the first car I’ve ceramic coated. Just yesterday I was walking away from my car after getting to work and noticed bird poop on the A pillar. A quick spritz of detail spray to soak it...and it came right off...zero etching. On a non coated car I think it would have had some evidence of etching.
 
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I’ve owned a black car since 2008...they’re tough to keep swirl free...look at it the wrong way and you get micro swirls...including Bmw’s paint. As soon as I got my black p3d+ I had ppf applied to the full front, rockers, behind the wheels and then full ceramic over it. I’ve had my car over a year now, put on 15k miles and it’s still immaculate. But I’m an enthusiast detailer and am meticulous about how I care for my cars. Tesla’s black paint is a little softer....but all black paint will show scratches/swirls even if you just touch it with any dust on the car....my bmw was the same way.

I did add ppf myself to the lower portion of the front doors a couple months ago. If I were to do it again I would have ppf’d the whole car and have a lot less worry about swirls. The self healing of xpel ultimate plus is crazy...and the orange peel is non existent, compared to the ppf I had applied on my bmw 10yrs ago.

Side note on ceramic. This is the first car I’ve ceramic coated. Just yesterday I was walking away from my car after getting to work and noticed bird poop on the A pillar. A quick spritz of detail spray to soak it...and it came right off...zero etching. On a non coated car I think it would have had some evidence of etching.

Never can tell with bird poop. My car was sitting for a week outside with bird poop on the paint. It cleaned right off. I was expecting it to have etched, but nope. Other times it can damage paint within the hour.
 
Never can tell with bird poop. My car was sitting for a week outside with bird poop on the paint. It cleaned right off. I was expecting it to have etched, but nope. Other times it can damage paint within the hour.

I’ve never let bird poop sit that long to find out. Lol. But I can say that how easily it wiped off was amazing...considering the ceramic coat was applied a year ago.
 
Yes! The black is horrible. I am really not overly picky. I can deal with swirls and rock chips, I'd drive the thing through a touchless automatic car wash if I could find one. I didn't PPF when I got it because I've never PPF's more expensive cars and I just lived with the rock chips. That said, this thing scratches if you sneeze on it (literally, by the way) and scratches are white on my black car. My scratches are on my drivers side door and I am pretty sure it is from walking past the car with a purse in my hand (with no sharp edges). Interestingly, the places you would expect damage (hood, rockers, mirrors) are still perfectly fine.
 
Black cars are a pain in the butt. So glad I moved my black car out of my stable. It was a 2013 335i that we bought new. The only swirls it ever got was from the one time the dealer washed it. I polished them out and never had any more issue. Always washed by hand using 2 bucket method with grit guard etc.

Being careful will prevent most damage. Also got it PPF’d day after delivery which made a huge difference in rock chips. 70k miles and only one rock chip made it through the PPF.

I got my Tesla PPF done a cpl weeks after delivery due to the guy I wanted to use being 6hrs away. Highly recommend it if you are even remotely OCD about your cars appearance.

Owners of every brand of car claim that brand has *sugar* paint... I’m convinced people just love to bitch.
 
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All the black cars seem to have "soft paint". Hear it on most all manufacturer forums.

All the low VOC water based paints mandated by EPA are going to show swirils and scratches. It is that on black,
they are highly noticible and annoy owners.

I have the same hardness of paint on my white X. I imagine that it has swirils as well, but no problem because I cannot see them.
 
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I was pretty ignorant about PPF, ceramic, etc. I bought a black Model 3 and someone recommended I put ceramic on it so I did. Started finding rock chips in the paint so upgraded to Front PPF and rocker panels.

As soon as I got the car back I noticed a bunch of scratches near the passenger door handle. This is caused by passengers/kids simply touching the door when they open/close the door.

I really underestimated this situation. Apparently you cannot touch a Tesla without scratching it and on a black car it's very visible.

Next steps are just to PPF the whole thing and stop worrying about it. Anyone else go through this?

Yep, door handle area is specifically a bad area for a lot of cars, especially if they’re polished and a dark color. I think buttons on cuffs, rings, and even ham fisted people touching the paint when there is sand or grit on it. My PPF installer asked if I wanted something there but I couldn’t figure out a good solution based on the style of the door handle (and since I wasn’t going to do the whole door).

I have been told many times to NOT have PPF applied over ceramic... did your installer talk to you about that at all? Does it void the film’s warranty against peeling or anything?
 
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Yep, door handle area is specifically a bad area for a lot of cars, especially if they’re polished and a dark color. I think buttons on cuffs, rings, and even ham fisted people touching the paint when there is sand or grit on it. My PPF installer asked if I wanted something there but I couldn’t figure out a good solution based on the style of the door handle (and since I wasn’t going to do the whole door).

I have been told many times to NOT have PPF applied over ceramic... did your installer talk to you about that at all? Does it void the film’s warranty against peeling or anything?

Oh yes. They are removing the ceramic then reapplying it over the PPF for free.
 
Black cars are a pain in the butt. So glad I moved my black car out of my stable. It was a 2013 335i that we bought new. The only swirls it ever got was from the one time the dealer washed it. I polished them out and never had any more issue. Always washed by hand using 2 bucket method with grit guard etc.

Being careful will prevent most damage. Also got it PPF’d day after delivery which made a huge difference in rock chips. 70k miles and only one rock chip made it through the PPF.

I got my Tesla PPF done a cpl weeks after delivery due to the guy I wanted to use being 6hrs away. Highly recommend it if you are even remotely OCD about your cars appearance.

Owners of every brand of car claim that brand has *sugar* paint... I’m convinced people just love to bitch.
Did you do anything about the rock chip? Wondering what you can do with the PPF already on.
 
Did you do anything about the rock chip? Wondering what you can do with the PPF already on.
I didn’t. It was a 3ft chip. So not visible for the most part.

if it makes it through the film the proper method is removal of film. Repair and install new film. This was taken right before I delivered the car.
 

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I was pretty ignorant about PPF, ceramic, etc. I bought a black Model 3 and someone recommended I put ceramic on it so I did. Started finding rock chips in the paint so upgraded to Front PPF and rocker panels.

As soon as I got the car back I noticed a bunch of scratches near the passenger door handle. This is caused by passengers/kids simply touching the door when they open/close the door.

I really underestimated this situation. Apparently you cannot touch a Tesla without scratching it and on a black car it's very visible.

Next steps are just to PPF the whole thing and stop worrying about it. Anyone else go through this?
Keep any car long enough and you will see door handle scratches, though it took close to a decade - not a year - before they became noticeable on my E320 wagon.
Robin
 
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